In the post-9/11 world, one would expect that
New Zealand would have an adequate law to deal with foreign as well
as domestic terrorism - it does not. Critics of the TSA [Terrorism
Suppression Act] say that
the law was never envisaged to apply to domestic terrorism, but one
wonders if it would have applied to foreign terrorists plotting much
the same activities as those leaked by the press. The inherent
weaknesses of the TSA underscore that the Labour Party and its minor
party partners in government (many of whom are veterans of Vietnam
War-era street protests) are not comfortable with legislation that
in any way would undermine legitimate political expression. We hope
the Law Commission, which will review the law...

Yeah. We come from the country in which we're told that the government "shall make no law," that infringes on our right to free speech... and here that same government is whining that another country has too much respect for free speech. The US ambassador seems upset that New Zealand would dare consider free speech rights to be important. It's stories like these that make the State Department's claims of supporting freedom around the globe ring pretty hollow...